From Basim: "The criminal court yesterday sentenced opposition tweeter Rashed Saleh
Al-Enezi for two years with immediate effect after convicting him of writing
tweets deemed critical to the status of HH the Amir. Minutes after issuing the
verdict by judge Wael Al-Ateeqi, police arrested Enezi who was in the courtroom
to hear the ruling. According to court papers, Enezi had made the tweets on
October 30 and he did not mention HH the Amir or his name in the tweet, but the
court said that it was understood from the tweet that he meant to insult the
Amir.
A second Kuwaiti man has been sentenced to two years in jail for insulting
the emir on Twitter as the Gulf Arab state tightens its grip on social media
criticisms of the establishment. Ayyad al-Harbi was found guilty of undermining
the status of the Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. The same court sentenced
Rashid Saleh al-Anzi to two years in jail on Sunday on the same charges.
According to the verdict, published by online newspaper Alaan, a tweet by Anzi
in October "stabbed" the rights and powers of the emir. It is illegal to
criticise the emir in Kuwait on the grounds of state security."
